Opening Doors and Sponsoring Success: An Interview with Rosalind Chow

Issue 168: Rosalind Chow's new book teaches readers new ways to network, build trust, and create a more inclusive workplace

Networking can kind of suck. It can feel overwhelming, inauthentic, or especially tricky if you are an early-career introvert. But in a world where connections and referrals are often the key to tangible professional opportunities, most of us can’t escape it.

Rosalind Chow, Professor of Organizational Behavior and Theory at Carnegie Mellon University rethinks workplace networking, trust and influence in her new book, The Doors You Can Open. Her research, teaching, and writing focuses on how people participate in social systems in ways that can have implications for inequitable outcomes (e.g., nepotism).

In the interview below, she introduces the basic ideas of sponsorship—opening doors for others—and how to be a sponsor even when you may not be in a position of power and decision-making. She explains how helping people who need each other connect, sharing other people’s good news, or planning ahead of time how to highlight a colleague’s accomplishments at a networking event are all ex…